Olivia Munn came very close to nabbing a big role on the NBC comedy 30 Rock — but according to the actress, one key actor got in her way.
“Going into [the 30 Rock] audition, I felt really good about everything. I dressed for the part, which I’d never really done before,” Munn, 45, recalled in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Friday, April 3. “I just had this confidence like, ‘They’ll come find me.’ I kept working on it until I got into the room. I just stayed in [the character]. I got the call that I booked the job, and I knew that I protected my psyche and kept myself from feeling envy and competition with the other women.”
When the reporter pointed out Munn never actually appeared on 30 Rock, the actress claimed Alec Baldwin — who played Jack Donaghy in the 2006 NBC series — kept her from retaining the role.
“The end of that story is that I got the job … and then two days later, they were like, ‘Alec thinks that you look too young to play his love interest,’” she claimed. “Another two days later, ‘No, no, no. They think you’re perfect. You’re going to fly out on Saturday.’ On Friday, ‘No, no, no. Alec thinks that you look too young and he’s putting his foot down.’”
Actress Elizabeth Banks ultimately secured the role of Avery Jessup, a financial reporter who had a connection with Baldwin’s character.
“What was interesting is that I think back on that and it would have been such a big, big break for me. But I was not devastated,” Munn shared. “I only thought to myself, ‘Wow, look how far I got.’ I ended up not getting the job because of something I couldn’t control. On my ability and my acting, I got it. It gave me so much confidence.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Baldwin’s team for comment.
Munn made it clear that her story is not meant to elicit sympathy. Instead, she explained that the disappointing experience gave her the confidence to prove she is worthy of being in a room with the greats.
“These people, iconic people — Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, Grace Wu at NBC casting — they all thought that I was good enough to have gotten the offer,” Munn explained. “That’s what I needed. Whether or not I got the job didn’t affect my confidence.”
Since that audition all the way back in 2010, Munn went on to play news anchor Sloan Sabbith in The Newsroom. The actress now stars in Apple TV’s hit series Your Friends and Neighbors.
While she thought about stepping away from acting to focus on producing and investing in companies, her latest project on the small screen was too good to pass up.
“I’m excited to work on this project. And I’d be excited if there was another thing that came around that excited me, but I’m not looking for the next thing,” she shared. “I don’t want back into the hamster wheel of trying to find another project.”
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